Determinants of Low Birth Weight in India: An Investigation from a Single Hospital Survey in Madhya Pradesh
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21276/apjhs.2021.8.1.9Keywords:
Determinants, India, Low birth weight, Newborn, Normal birth weightAbstract
Background: Birth weight is one of the most important criteria for determining the neonatal and infant survival. Low birth weight (LBW) is a major public health concern, especially in developing countries, and is frequently related to child morbidity and mortality. LBW is a major public health concern and one of the strongest single risk factors for early neonatal mortality and morbidity. Materials and Methods: About 1000 live newborns on the 1st day of birth and their mothers were studied from the department of obstetrics and gynecology and intensive neonatal care, department of pediatrics of a tertiary care teaching hospital between January 2016 and December 2019. Examinations of mother and newborns were carefully carried out in all cases recorded on a pretested and predesigned pro forma. Results: Mothers weighing <45 kg delivered significantly higher number of LBW babies than normal birth babies. This is statistically very highly significant. It appears that mothers with mid-arm circumference (MAC) 22 cm or less had given birth to much higher number of LBW babies (74.8%), while mothers with MAC >26 cm gave birth to higher number of LBW babies than normal BW babies. This is very highly significant (P < 0.001). Mothers who had taken iron plus folic acid tablets only for few days in any of the trimesters had given birth to higher number of LBW babies while mothers who have taken hematinics throughout pregnancy or taken irregularly had given birth to most of normal birth weight babies. The incidence of LBW was almost 2 ½ times more in joint family (72.6%) than nuclear family. Mothers with moderate to severe anemia have given birth to higher number of LBW babies. Mothers with Hb >10 g% gave birth to higher number of normal BW babies. Conclusion: LBW and premature babies were more prevalent in joint families, with low socioeconomic status, maternal illiteracy, and housewives. With increase in income, both LBW and prematurity decreased reflecting a better distribution of nutrition and care for pregnant and the newborn. Mothers educated till primary school and unskilled workers had higher prevalence of LBW babies.
Downloads
References
Taywade ML, Pisudde PM. Study of sociodemographic determinants of low birth weight in Wardha district, India. Clin Epidemiol Glob Health 2017;5:14-20.
Pal A, Manna S, Das B, Dhara PC. The risk of low birth weight and associated factors in West Bengal, India: A community based cross-sectional study. Egypt Pediatr Assoc Gaz 2020;68:27.
Kayode GA, Amoakoh-Coleman M, Agyepong IA, Ansah E, Grobbee DE, Klipstein-Grobusch K. Contextual risk factors for low birth weight: A multilevel analysis. PLoS One 2014;9:e109333.
Sachdev HP. Low birth weight in South Asia. Int J Diabetes Dev Ctries 2001;21:13-31.
Dalal A, Chauhan S, Bala DV. Epidemiological determinants of low birth weight in Ahmedabad city: A facility-based case-control study. Int J Med Sci Public Health 2014;3:430-2.
Reddy RS, Sarma YV. Comparative study of socio-economic status of mothers who delivered term low birth weight babies with mothers who delivered normal birth weight babies in a tertiary care rural hospital. Int Arch Integr Med 2015;2:129-34.
World Health Organization. International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. 2nd ed. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2004.
Cutland CL, Lackritz EM, Mallett-Moore T, Bardají A, Chandrasekaran R, Lahariya C, et al. Low birth weight: Case definition and guidelines for data collection, analysis, and presentation of maternal immunization safety data. Vaccine 2017;35:6492-500.
Kader M, Perera NK. Socio-economic and nutritional determinants of low birth weight in India.N Am J Med Sci 2014;6:302-8.
Som S Jr., Pal M, Adak DK, Gharami AK, Bharati S, Bharati P. Effect of socio-economic and biological variables on birth weight in Madhya Pradesh. Malays J Nutr 2004;10:159-71.
Schieve LA, Cogswell ME, Scanlon KS, Perry G, Ferre C, Blackmore-Prince C, et al, The NMIHS Collaborative Study Group. Prepregnancy body mass index and pregnancy weight gain: Associations with preterm delivery. Obstet Gynecol 2000;96:194-200.
Elshibly EM, Schmalisch G. The effect of maternal anthropometric characteristics and social factors on gestational age and birth weight in Sudanese newborn infants. BMC Public Health 2008;8:244.
Aliyu MH, Jolly PE, Ehiri JE, Salihu HM. High parity and adverse birth outcomes: Exploring the maze. Birth 2005;32:45-59.
Conde-Agudelo A, Rosas-Bermudez A, Kafury-Goeta AC. Birth spacing and risk of adverse perinatal outcomes: A meta-analysis. JAMA 2006;295:1809-23.
Zhu BP, Haines KM, Le T, McGrath-Miller K, Boulton ML. Effect of the interval between pregnancies on perinatal outcomes among white and black women. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2001;185:1403-10.
Zhu BP, Rolfs RT, Nangle BE, Horan JM. Effect of the interval between pregnancies on perinatal outcomes. N Engl J Med 1999;340:589-94.
Watkins WJ, Kotecha SJ, Kotecha S. All-cause mortality of low birth weight infants in infancy, childhood, and adolescence: Population study of England and wales. PLoS Med 2016;13:e1002069.
Muchemi OM, Echoka E, Makokha A. Factors associated with low birth weight among neonates born at Olkalou district hospital, central region, Kenya. Pan Afr Med J 2015;20:108.
Siyoum M, Melese T. Factors associated with low birth weight among babies born at Hawassa university comprehensive specialized hospital, Hawassa, Ethiopia. Ital J Pediatr 2019;45:48.
Panti AA, Ekele BA, Nwobodo EI, Yakubu A. The relationship between the weight of the placenta and birth weight of the neonate in a Nigerian hospital. Niger Med J 2012;53:80-4.
Bhimwal RK, Makwana M, Chouhan HK, Gupta M, Lal K, Jora R. A study of various determinates and incidence of low birth weight babies born in Umaid hospital, Jodhpur (Western Rajasthan). Int J Contemp Pediatr 2017;4:1302-9.
National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3). Available from: http://www.rchiips.org/NFHS/nfhs3.shtml. [Accessed on 2020 Sep 21].
Khan N, Mozumdar A, Kaur S. Determinants of low birth weight in India: An investigation from the national family health survey. Am J Hum Biol 2020;32:e23355.
Kramer MS. Determinants of low birth weight: Methodological assessment and meta-analysis. Bull World Health Organ 1987;65:663-737.
Bhargava SK, Ghosh S, Lall UB. A study of low birth weight infants in an urban community. Health Popul Perspect Issues 1979;2:54-66.
Hirve SS, Ganatra BR. Determinants of low birth weight: A community based prospective cohort study. Indian Pediatr 1994;31:1221-5.
Deshmukh JS, Motghare DD, Zodpey SP, Wadhva SK. Low birth weight and associated maternal factors in an urban area. Indian Pediatr 1998;35:33-6.
Joshi HS, Subba SH, Dabral SB, Dwivedi S, Kumar D, Singh S. Risk factors associated with low birth weight in newborns. Indian J Community Med 2005;30:142-3.
Kumari S, Garg N, Kumar A, Guru PK, Ansari S, Anwar S, et al. Maternal and severe anaemia in delivering women is associated with risk of preterm and low birth weight: A cross sectional study from Jharkhand, India. One Health 2019;8:100098.
Desta SA, Damte A, Hailu T. Maternal factors associated with low birth weight in public hospitals of Mekelle city, Ethiopia: A case-control study. Ital J Pediatr 2020;46:124.
Onyiriuka AN. Incidence of delivery of low birth weight infants in twin gestations. Niger J Clin Pract 2010;13:365-70.32. Saberi MR. Associated anemia during pregnancy and birth weight. Iran J Obstet Gynecol Infertil 2015;142:6-10.
Kumar V, Deshmukh PR, Taywade M, Gupta SS. Magnitude and correlates of low birth weight at term in rural Wardha, Central India. Online J Health Allied Sci 2016;15:2.
Dayanithi M. Low birth weight and premature births and their associated maternal factors. Int J Community Med Public Health 2018;5:2277-85.
Kabir N, Kawser CA, Rahman F, Kabir ML, Rahman A. The relationship of placental weight with birth weight. Mymensingh Med J 2007;16:177-80.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Anuradha Jain, Ashwin Jain, Vimalkant Jain, Priyanka Shrivastava, Pragati Patel
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Asian Pacific Journal of Health Sciences applies the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license to published articles. Under this license, authors retain ownership of the copyright for their content, but they allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute and/or copy the content as long as the original authors and source are cited. Appropriate attribution can be provided by simply citing the original article.